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Published: 23/05/2013 09:33 PM

Five soldiers injured in Tripoli clashes

Five soldiers were injured on Thursday afternoon during ongoing clashes between Tripoli’s rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh, while local media reported that another soldier was killed later in the evening.

The Lebanese Armed Forces command said in a statement that three soldiers were injured in a shooting that targeted an army barracks in the Dahr al-Maghr neighborhood of the strife-stricken city.

A civilian car carrying soldiers also came under attack in the troubled northern city leaving two other soldiers seriously injured.

The army command said that it had replied to the sources of fire and began conducting raids in search for the assailants.

The clashes in Tripoli intensified at 6:30 p.m. as snipers targeted people and vehicles in both Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh, as well as the highway that links Tripoli to Akkar, Lebanon's state National News Agency reported.

The NNA said that Suleiman Aziz al-Ali and Ali al-Ali were killed as they were leaving Jabal Mohsen, while Al-Jadeed reported that a soldier was killed in Jabal Mohsen amid the clashes.

The NNA reported later in the evening that rocket-propelled grenades exploded on Tripoli’s Syria street and near the Al-Zahiriya area.

Sectarian clashes erupted Sunday in Tripoli and intensified overnight Wednesday in a melee of mortar shelling and heavy gunfire that left at least 6 people dead.

The fighting in Tripoli erupted as Syrian regime troops backed by Hezbollah attempted to storm Al-Qusayr, a strategic rebel stronghold linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.

Sniping continues to target any moving person or vehicle in both Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh.